Tour de Exchange

Saturday, May 03, 2014

This morning was around 50F for my first ride of the season, a 25-miler in Charleston, IL. It warmed up nicely and was 60F by the time my friend and I finished, but the headwind coming back in was tough!!! Also, the route back from the rest stop was poorly marked, and we went about 2 miles not knowing if we were going the right way. Finally, she caught a marker and we knew we were on the path back!

She was always ahead of me, and once we hit that headwind, we both really struggled. It was all farmland, no trees anywhere, and so we were always on an open prairie with this strong headwind. I knew we would be in trouble the whole way out to the rest stop, because I could feel the tailwind the whole way, pushing us along and making our ride seem really easy. Not so lucky on the way back.

Jean did fabulous!!! She had hip replacement surgery a year ago, and she spent all of last summer in PT, rehabbing, and then she spent all winter on her trainer at home, riding indoors. Also, she got a new gear cassette for her bike; her ortho guy is a cyclist, and he recommended that she get a new gear cassette to give her some lower gears for her new hip. So between that, and her training all winter, she was smoking everyone else on the ride.

I really want a trainer, but they are expensive. One of my friends that I ride with has a used one that she wants to sell me for $175. That's almost as much as I would spend for a NEW one! Youch. Anyway, this past winter was hard for me because not only could I not ride, but because of my foot, I can't walk/run anymore, the elliptical at the gym is out, and so all I really have left that I can do for cardio in the winter is swim, stationary-bike, and stationary-row. I hate all stationary machines, so I have relied heavily on swimming this past winter, and on those really cold days it just didn't happen. This coming winter I won't even have a pool anymore, because my gym will be going away now that I'm graduating. I really think a trainer would benefit me this coming winter. And then I could do it at home and not even have to leave on a cold morning. I'm hopeful to pick a used one up from the Tri-Shark triathlon group here in town, because they are selling a bunch.

I came home and husband had a hamburger cooking for me, and so we ate together and then I showered and laid around after that windy ride. I keep looking around my messy house and thinking..."Tomorrow..."

Sounds like an awesome day. I went for a run/walk yesterday morning and was wiped yesterday afternoon. I played on the iPad most of the afternoon in an horizontal position. I briefly thought about the things I needed to do, but they didn't cross my mind much after that! We all need to rest every now and then.

Sounded like a good ride! Yesterday was such a beautiful day! I am sorry you are losing your pool soon =((( I hope you find a trainer. Is there anyway you could buy your friends $175 dollar one and pay her off for it over time? Like 35 bucks a month? It's amazing what ppl have money for, been seeing that a lot lately.